Since the news yesterday morning out of Wisconsin was a bit depressing for progressives (and Progressives), I thought it was time to mark an important upcoming centennial there. On the first of September in 1911, the first constitutional workers' compensation law took full effect in Wisconsin. The law had been passed on May 3, 1911. By all rights, I should have written about it back then, or waited until September for the anniversary of the law taking effect, but I thought today was a good day to reminisce about when Wisconsin was at the forefront of the Labor movement, instead of where they find themselves today.
Anyone unaware of Wisconsin's role in the Progressive movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would do well to just skim Wikipedia's history of the Badger State's most famous Progressive, Robert "Fighting Bob" La Follette. Here's just a sample sentence from his biographical entry:
As governor, La Follette championed numerous progressive reforms, including the first workers' compensation system, railroad rate reform, direct legislation, municipal home rule, open government, the minimum wage, non-partisan elections, the open primary system, direct election of U.S. Senators, women's suffrage, and progressive taxation.
Wisconsin's claim to be the first state to enact workers' compensation is disputed by some, as many states were passing various workers' rights laws at the time (the earliest laws of this nature, passed in the 1800s, merely gave the employee the right to sue an employer for damages if injured on the job). But Wisconsin's claim has something going for it that no other state can claim -- they've got their own stamp:
This "commemorative" stamp was unveiled by President Kennedy in 1961, to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Wisconsin's law, and the ceremony included then-governor of Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson:
Seeing as this was 1961, the stamp actually commemorates "workmen's compensation" instead of the gender-neutral "workers' compensation" it has become today. But whatever you call it, it is worth remembering that what all Americans now consider a right in the workplace had to be bitterly fought over for years before it became the law of the land.
Sadly, though (if this article can be believed), the United States Postal Service will not be issuing a centennial stamp to mark the occasion. Back in 2008, the Wisconsin Division of Workers' Compensation tried to convince the Post Office to issue a new stamp -- to update the one issued in 1961. They submitted this proposal three years in advance, because apparently the Post Office takes a while to make up its mind over new stamp designs.
If the U.S.P.S. has indeed turned down the stamp proposal, perhaps this would be a dandy political issue for Democrats to make some hay over, when Congress returns from its lavish month off on vacation. Why is the Postal Service not honoring the history of workers' rights? Why is the centennial of the first workers' compensation not worthy of a stamp, when it was for the semicentennial?
More to the point, why are the following worthy of stamps this year, instead of Wisconsin's landmark achievement?
A random image of a dolphin
A random image of a bighorn sheep
A random image of some redwood trees
Some sort of neo-Art-Deco image which is supposed to represent "Wisdom"
A decorative coffeepot
The Year of the Rabbit
The Indianapolis 500
Not just one, but two bridges
Kate Smith
And, finally -- you just can't make this stuff up -- Owney the Postal Dog
Think about that for a minute. The postman is honoring a dog with a stamp. And they can't issue a workers' compensation centennial stamp? Quick quiz: which has impacted the lives of more Americans -- being able to work safe in the knowledge that workers' comp exists, or a Chippendale chair? It would be funny if it weren't so outrageous. The Sunday funnies, in fact, did make the cut -- they were deemed more worthy of the honor than the workers' compensation milestone. If you think I'm just picking the most outrageous things the Post Office has put on stamps which they are currently selling, I invite you to view them all for yourself and see what other gems I didn't even mention here.
Whether the Wisconsin workers' compensation achievement gets another stamp or not, though, I would like to wish an early happy 100th anniversary to the concept that workers should be taken care of when they get injured. I invite everyone to visit the Workers Comp Centennial website, to learn the history of this right we all take for granted today. Because 100 years ago (next month) Wisconsin was at the center of the Labor battles in quite a different way than they are today. Back then, Progressives were scoring important victories which have made all Americans' lives better ever since.
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Above you mentioned that the Gov La Follette championed numerous progressive reforms, including " the open primary system, "
I will tackle just that one idea since it is such a bad idea. Why should people who have no intention of EVER voting or supporting a candidate from one party in a general election vote for that candidate in the General election.
In my Congressional district the Congressman and Senator is extremely safe with never more then a token challenge in my Party. In a state with an "open primary" I could just vote for the worst candidate in the other party just to ensure my guy wins the general election.
Quote "Because of the open nature of this system, a practice known as raiding may occur. Raiding consists of voters of one party crossing over and voting in the primary of another party, effectively allowing a party to help choose its opposition's candidate. The theory is that opposing party members vote for the weakest candidate of the opposite party in order to give their own party the advantage in the general election. An example of this can be seen in the 1998 Vermont senatorial primary with the election of Fred Tuttle for the Republican candidate."
We started 2011 by being blind-sided. But the state senate Democrats--every last man and woman of them--stalled passage of Walker's anti-union legislation long enough to focus public attention on the looming disaster, permit the courts to address the matter (buying us more time), and allow the progressive community and the unions to get their acts together. We've since come close to turning a reactionary state supreme court judge out of office, fended off an attempt to unseat a progressive state senator, unseated two reactionary state senators in gerrymandered Republican districts (coming within 2,200 votes of unseating a third), and have achieved previously-unseen levels of co-operation among rival public sector unions, between public sector and private sector unions, and among independents, fair-minded traditional Republicans and mainstream Democrats. Our efforts have become international news. Today we have an energized army of thousands of newly-experienced campaign workers and the attention of the world (if not, deplorably, of Barack Obama).
Democracy is alive and well in Wisconsin and Scott Walker will be just a bad memory by early next year. Bank on it. Bob LaFollette would be as proud of us as we are of him.